Girl Up is a global movement for gender equality... but what exactly is gender equality!? Although there is no one universally accepted standard definition, at Girl Up we believe it means all girls have agency to make their own decisions and have equal access to rights and opportunities, regardless of their gender identity or expression.

We love seeing how each Girl Up Club makes progress toward gender equality in their own way, and keeps their work intersectional with other equality movements, both in their own community and around the world.

As a member of Girl Up, you're helping to realize our vision of achieving gender equality for every girl, everywhere.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global effort led by the United Nations to create a safer, more peaceful world where everyone can fully and freely exercise their human rights. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals that guide this effort. SDG 5 focuses on gender equality!

October 11 is International Day of the Girl & March 8 is International Women's Day

Progress has been made for gender equality, but we're not quite there. Here are some statistics:

130 million girls are out of school and denied an education around the world (UN).

Every year, an estimated 15 million girls under 18 are married worldwide, with little or no say in the matter (UN).

Four out of five victims of human trafficking are girls (UN).

One in three women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO).

Globally, only 32% of all national parliamentarians are female. That's more than double the number it was in 1995, but still slow change (UN Women).

Women currently account for only 4.8% of CEO positions at the top 500 companies in the world (UN Women).

In the US, on average women earn 80% of what white men are paid—and different groups of women experience very different gaps in pay. Caucasian women with full-time jobs earn only 77% of the earnings of Caucasian men, and African-American women earn only 61% and Latina women earn only 53%. (AAUW)

In Mexico, women earn 16.5% less than the median male wage (OECD).

In the UK, women earn about 83.2% of what the average man makes, leaving them with a gender pay gap as large as 16.8% (OECD).

In Canada, women earn 18.2% less than the median wage of men, despite the Canadian Employment Standards Act, which prohibits wage discrimination on the basis of sex/employment status in Canada (OECD).

One in five women on US college campuses have experienced sexual assault (UN)

Resources

Download our resources to learn more, see how you can educate those around you, and take action!
Look back at the Gender Equality Challenge